Norway

2015 was a big year for tourism, the number of international tourists rose by 5%, seeing 1.2 billion of us travelling aboard. Even with the threat of terrorist attacks people weren’t deterred, France remained the most visited country even after the tragedies in Paris.

Where was the best place you travelled last year?

Out of the few places I was able to visit last year Tromsø has to be the stand out. The landscape in Norway was magnificent though the country is a little expensive. Last year I shared many of my photographs from Tromsø but I still have others that I would like you to see.

Like this:

The rock art in Alta, Norway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In actual fact, what look like paintings are carvings into the rocks surface. When the site was discovered in the 1970’s they coloured in the images so that they could be seen more easily, this technique is no longer practiced making some of the carvings less prominent than others.

There are several sites within the museum and walking the outside viewing route takes about 45 minutes. The age of the carvings ranges from 2000 to 6000 years old. The carvings in the photography above are thought to be between 5300 to 6000 years old. What is interesting is why this particular spot was so interesting to the artists and how long the carvings went undetected before they were discovered.

This isn’t the only time I have visited historical rock art. I have also visited a few locations in Kakadu National Park, Australia and you can see those photographs and my experiences HERE.

Like this:

When World War II was approaching its conclusion Finland asked the Germans, who up to this point had been helping them fight against the Russians, to leave but they refused. This then led to the Finns fighting against the Germans and pushing them north into Norway. On the way out the Germans used a Scorched Earth Policy and burnt every town they came across, this continued as they moved through Norway. Karasjoki old church was the only building left standing in the Norwegian town of Karasjoki at the end of World War II.

Like this:

Driving through the mountains towards Nordkapp the cloud was descending and the visibility was low. Through the cloud came a small glowing orb, surprisingly it was the sun. All of the sunlight was absorbed by the clouds leaving only a yellow setting ball of sun. Creepy.